Illuminated sign.



PATENTED JULY 16, 1907. H. DREYER. ILLUMINATED SIGN.

APPLIOATIOH FILED JAN. 22, 1901.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I N VE N TOR PATENTED JULY 16, 1907. H. DREYER.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

APPLIOA'I'IGN FILED I. 22, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Specification of Letters Patent.

HERMAN DREYER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ILLUMINATED SIGN Patented July 16, 1907.

Ap licatio fil d January 22.1907. Serial lilo. 353,511.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, HERMAN Dm-nnn, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of N ow York, in the county of Kings and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in illuminated Signs,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates more particularly to illuminated gas signs foradvertising purposes.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an attractive andeffective sign which is adapted to be displayed either within or out ofdoors, and in which the gas may be made to flash so as to successivelylight "up and darken the sign to more effectively attract attention; toprovide simple and eflicient means for cutting off the supply of gas tothe burner or burners, and to provide simple and efficient; motorconnections whereby the motor may be placed at a distance from the signproper, or made to form a part thereof.

. A further object of the invention is to provide simple and efficientmeans whereby the sign may be intermittentlylighted in part or in whole.

With these and other objects in view, the invention will be hereinaftermore particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification, and will then be pointed out inthe claims at the end of the description.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of one formof signembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the linesIII1 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section, partly in elevation, takenthrough the motor and showing on an enlarged scale the means forintermittently cutting off the supply of gas to .the burner or burners.Figs. 4 and 5 are detail sect-ional views of the valve or means forregulating the supply of gas. Fig. 6 shows how a series of burners maybe employed, and the motor placed some distance away from the signproper. Fig. 7 illustrates how a series of burners may be successivelyand intermit tently lighted. Fig. 8 shows how the motor mechanism may beconnected direct to the valve or gas con trolling means, and Fig. 9 is adetail section of another means for intermittently and successivelylighting a plurality of burners.

The sign, and the casing for the burners and operating means may be ofany suitable form or construction.

As shown the sign 10 has a glass or transparent part ll, and back ofthis is arranged a card or plate with openings therethroughcorresponding to the matter to be displayed or advertised, though theadvertising matter if desired might be placed direct upon the glassfront of the sign. To the sign 10 is secured a casing 12 having a door13 at the rear thereof to provide access to said casing, and at suitablepoints therein are apertures or openings 14 for ventilation,

leads from within the casin to the source of "as su )l located at anydesired point. The supply pipe within the casing has a substantiallyU-shapcd portion 18, and to the main supply pipe is connected a smalleror pilot pipe 19, the supply to which may be controlled by a valve 20,said pilot pipe having its outer end leading to a point adjacent to theburner or lighting means. The pilot:- pipe receives a constant supply ofgas, and remains constantly ignited while the sign is in use.

To control the supply of gas, and to intermittently cut off or reducesaid supply, I arrange within the U-shapcd part 18 of the main supplypipe a valve, element, or controller 2]. This Valve or controller may beof the'usual or of any preferred form. As shown it is a tapering plug 21having the usual opening 22 which is held within a casing 23, and isadapted to intermittently form comnninication between the supply pipeand the lighting means or burner. This plug is rotatably held in itscasing, and at one end of its stem is provided with a wheel or pulley24. A belt 25 passes around this wheel or pulley and around a secondwheel or pulley 26, which is secured to a shaft 27 of the motor, andinstead of a belt and the two wheels, sprockets may be employed aroundwhich may pass a sprocket chain, so as to positively drive and rotatethe gas-controlling means when the shaft of the motor is rotated. On theshaft is a pinion 28, and this pinion forms a part of a train of gears29 of the usual or of any preferred construction, which forms a part ofthe motor. This motor has a spring 30, and through the spring drives thetrain of gearing, which may be substantially the same as that employedin clocks, the motor being so constructed as to be operated at thedesired speed to permit the valve or gas controller to be operated for anumber of hours Without rewinding. The motor is so arranged that thespring shaft may be wound from without the casing, and pivoted to theframe of the motor is a pawl 3l, to the shaft of which is connected ahandle 32. This handie 32 is arranged on the outside of the sign casing,and is adapted to cause the pawl to engage the teeth of one of thewheels of the motor mechanism to stop the same, or be released from saidwheel, to permit the valve or controller to be continuously operated andto intermittently cut off the supply of gas to the burner as alreadyexplained.

It will be seen that as the gas controller or element 21 constantlyrotates, it will shut off or turn on the supply of gas to the burner orburners, and as the pilots are constantly lighted, the gas as it isturned on will be ignited and cause it to give a flash light, therebyeffectively and intermittently exposing the advertisement ordisplayedmatter forming a part of the sign.

In Fig. 6, the motor frame is arranged within a separate casing 33, andon the shaft of the motor mechanism is arranged a pulley 34 whichoperates, through a belt or chain 35, a pulley 36 on the stem 37 of thegas controlling valve. The valve or controller is arranged in the mainsupply pipe 38, and the gas is adapted to be intermittently cut off in asimilar manner to that shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The main supply pipeleads to within a casing 39 which may be of any suitable form, and inthe supply pipe is arranged a plurality of burners 40. A pilot pipe 41leads from the main supply pipe below the valve so as to have a constantsupply of gas thereto, and is provided with branches, the openings ofwhich are adjacent to the burner tips. As the motor is operated thecontroller element will rotate, and will inter mittently shut off thesupply of gas, and as each supply is turned on the pilot lights, whichare constantly burning, will ignite the gas as it escapes from theburners and will cause a flash thereby displaying the advertisement.

Either in the construction. shown in Fig. 6, or in any of the otherfigures, I may provide a small branch pipe 42 in the main supply pipe toform a by-pass around the controller as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6.In this case the pilot light may be dispensed with, as the small pipewill supply suflicient gas to the burners, so that they will not beentirely shut off during the rotary movement of the controller, andtherefore will not go entirely out.

In Fig. 7, the casing is provided with a series of partitions 43arranged between the burners or lighting means, so as to form acompartment for each letter, and each burner has its own controller orrotary element 44. The rotary valves have their openings so arrangedrelatively with respect to each other, that each burner will be suppliedwith gas from the source of supply in succession, the openings in thevalves being shown in dotted lines. The valve stems of the controllingmeans are each provided with a complete gear 45 which meshes with theadjacent gear, so that they will all rotate in unison, and said train ofgears may be continuously rotated in substantially the same way asalready described.

Fig. 8 shows how the controller or rotary regulating means may becontinuously operated direct from the motor instead of by a chain as inthe other views. As shown the stem of the valve has a pinion 46 whichmeshes with the gear 47 on one of the shafts of the spring-actuatedmotor. 1

Fig. 9, shows how a series of burners may be lighted in succession andthen remain lighted for a period of time, and the lights turned down orout in succession. The casing 48 has a rotary element or valve 49 havingan opening 50 therethrough, which is adapted to communicate with thesource of gas supply, and on one side of the periphery of the valve is agroove 51 which communicates with the opening in said valve at its twoends. The casing has a groove or channel 52 which communicates with thesource of gas supply, and inthe casing are a plurality of openings 53which communicate with the plurality of pipes 54 that lead to a seriesof burners. It will be seen that as the valve or controller rotates, itwill successively form a communication between the gas supply and theburners, and as the controller continues to rotate it will Isuccessively shut off communication with the burner pipes, and keep thegas shut off or lowered for a period of time.

From the foregoing, it will be seen. that simple and efficient means isprovided whereby a sign may be made to display advertising matter, andin which one or more burners may be employed, and the lights caused tosuccessively flash and lower for the purpose of better attractingattention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patentz 1. In an illuminated sign, the combination with a gassupply pipe, of a plurality of burners, means for lighting the burners.of a valve casing arranged in the gas-supply pipe, a tapering plugrotatably held in the casing and hav ing a transverse openingtherethrough, a peripheral channel or groove forming a communicationbetween the ends of said opening on one side of the plug whereby theburners may be made to burn bright in succession and all remain lightedfor a period of time and then lower, and a motor operatively connectedwith the plug for rotating the latter.

2. In an illuminated sign, the combination with a casing having meansfor displaying advertising and for ventilating the same, of a pluralityof burners arranged within the casing, a gas-supply pipe communicatingwith the burners, means for lighting the gas as it escapes from theburners, a valve casing arranged in the gas-supply pipe, a rotarytapering plug held in the valve casing and arranged be tween the sourceof gas supply and the burners, said plug having a transverse opening anda peripheral channel or groove on one side thereof forming acommunication betweenthe ends of the transverse opening whereby theburners may be lighted in succession, a motor connected with thetapering plug so as to rotate the same, and means adapted to engage apart of the motor and stop the same.

In an illuminated sign, the combination with a casing having means fordisplaying advertising and for ventilat ing the same. of a burnerarranged within the casing, a gassupply pipe communicating with theburner, means for lighting the gas as it escapes from the burner, 21valve casing arranged in the gas supply pipe, a rotary tapering plugheld in the valve'casing and arranged between the source of gas supplyand the burner and provided with a transverse opening and a peripheralgroove or channel forming :1 communication between the ends of saidopening adapted to shut 01f the supply of gas as it rotates, and a motoroperatively connected with the tapering plug to rotate the same.

This specification signed and witnessed this 19th day of January A. D.1007.

HERMAN DREYER.

Witnesses:

ROBERT MicHNorr, Mosns .I. DULINSKY.

